Berlusconi: Have faith in Milan

Barbara Berlusconi has appealed to the Milan fans to get behind their team as they struggle to find form in a crucial run in the season.

Barbara Berlusconi has appealed to the Milan fans to get behind their team as they struggle to find form in a crucial run in the season.

Defeat to Lazio and a draw to Napoli in the League was followed last night by a first-leg semi-final defeat at home to Juventus in the Coppa Italia, raising suggestions again of a crisis within the Rossoneri.

However, as Massimiliano Allegri’s team prepare for the trip on Saturday to face another title rival in the form of Udinese, Berlusconi - club President Silvio’s daughter and a member of club’s board of directors - appealed to the fans to have faith.

“The team needs to feel the support of our fans. This should not be a time of controversy and criticism. We are in an important stage of the season.

“The coming weeks will no doubt be decisive. We are still on course to still achieve all our goals, this was information we had at the start of the season.

“There is no lack of good news. [Stephan] El Shaarawy is proving to be a promising footballer and some of our players are now reaching a good level of form.

“In general, however, this is a difficult period to go through, many of our players are still unavailable and we are playing every three days, so it is difficult to recover.